Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today as part of educating our youth, I would like to announce an initiative, sponsored in part by the Deh Gah School. Mr. Speaker, the Fifth Annual Regional Youth Conference will be starting on Friday in Fort Providence. This is the second year in a row that Fort Providence has hosted this conference, titled Honouring our Gifts. The three-day conference will consist of workshops and presentations by well-known key speakers and presenters of both northern and southern role models, including Fort Providence's own Angie Matto, Delphine Elleze and Sherry Landry-Braun. Other presenters are Barry Church, Sharon Firth, Myron Wolf Child, Lisa Simard, Dr. Andrew Corriveau, the Fort Resolution Dancers and the Honourable Roger Allen. These people have developed their gifts to their full potential, and some have built their careers around them.
The Deh Gah Elementary School conference organizers are Julia Elleze, Maxine Lacorne, Melissa Wood, Margaret Thom and Jane Arychuk. These people have committed themselves to ensuring that each participant will come out of this conference with the ability to recognize and honour the gifts they have. The 150 youth participants hail from communities across the Northwest Territories. The programs will give insight to the spiritual, mental, physical and cultural aspects of well-being, which is a basic foundation of traditional teaching.
Mr. Speaker, this conference has been made possible by contributions from MACA; Mackenzie Recreation Association; Deh Gah Gotie Brighter Futures; the Minister of Youth, Roger Allen; Fort Providence Recreation; BHP; the Languages Commissioner, Fibbie Tatti; Shehta Drilling; Territorial Beverages; Nats'ejee Keh, Deh Cho Divisional Education Council; Skills Canada; SAY Magazine; and Rosalyn Smith.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all the organizers, volunteers, sponsors and the role models for offering our youth the basic building blocks for self-improvement through this conference. I'd also like to wish all the youth, visitors and presenters a safe and enjoyable stay while in Fort Providence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause